What happens when you’re walking through Charlotte, crossing a street, leaving a store, or heading to work, and a driver hits you? Pedestrian-related collisions feel especially shocking because you have no protection, and the injuries that follow can disrupt every part of your life.
With CR Legal Team by your side, you’ll have a Charlotte personal injury lawyer advocating for you at all times. Our attorneys have over 100 years of combined experience, and we’ve helped more than 200,000 people recover billions of dollars in compensation.
As unfortunate as this experience is, you have rights, and a pedestrian accident lawyer can handle the legal matters on your behalf. As a law firm with more than 36 years in business, we know how overwhelmed victims of these cases often feel, but We Stand Up For You®.
Common Causes of Pedestrian Collisions on Charlotte Streets
Local pedestrian crashes rarely happen in a simple, predictable pattern. They reflect the sporadic nature of real-world traffic behavior, busy intersections, and the way drivers react to different circumstances.
This means the cause of your injuries will likely vary from other pedestrian incidents based on the details of the circumstances leading up to the accident. That said, let’s take a look at scenarios that pedestrian accident lawyers in Charlotte have seen before.
Crosswalk Strikes During Turning Movements
Drivers who are planning to turn at an intersection often scan for oncoming traffic, but sometimes, they fail to realize there’s a person in the crosswalk. Collisions that unfold in this way involve drivers who failed to yield despite the pedestrian having the right of way.
Unfortunately, these circumstances are all too common in Charlotte’s high-volume intersections, like those in the South End or near the Bank of America towers. Drivers face pressure to keep the flow of traffic moving, but this inevitably puts pedestrians at a greater risk of harm.
High-Speed Impact on Multi-Lane Roads
Independence Boulevard, South Boulevard, and Freedom Drive are known for fast-moving traffic. When a driver speeds toward an intersection without noticing nearby pedestrians, the force of the impact is usually life-altering.
Parking Lot and Retail Center Accidents
Charlotte is home to shopping centers, grocery store lots, and parking decks galore. When pedestrians frequent these areas, they have to cross between busy spaces filled with moving vehicles and drivers who don’t always see them passing through.
Low visibility, oversized vehicles, and distracted drivers create conditions where someone walking on foot is more likely to be hit at close range.
Bus, Rideshare, and Delivery-Related Crashes
Many people in the area rely on rideshare services and commercial delivery vehicles. As helpful as these modes of transportation can be, this reliance leads to an increase in the number of cars stopping, starting, and pulling to the curb in nearby areas.
Pedestrians are more likely to be struck when a driver performs an unsafe drop-off, pulls quickly into a bike lane, or drives away after a drop-off without checking their surroundings.
Nighttime or Low-Visibility Conditions
Did you know pedestrian accidents often spike after dark along corridors like North Tryon or Central Avenue? This is especially common when lighting is inconsistent or when traffic moves quickly.
School Zones and Residential Neighborhoods
Drivers who rush through school drop-off areas or ignore posted signs in neighborhoods pose a danger to children walking home and parents crossing the street. When people drive quickly in tight spaces, the odds of a pedestrian getting hit naturally increase.
While you might not want to think about what happened leading up to the moment you were hit, this information is important for your Charlotte pedestrian accident lawyers to understand. The more insight your attorney has, the better equipped they’ll be to determine liability.
The Injuries Charlotte Pedestrians Face After Being Hit
People who are struck by cars while walking tend to sustain injuries that reshape the way they go about their daily lives. As a pedestrian, your body wasn’t protected from the impact caused by the car that hit you, and even collisions at lower speeds can result in prolonged recovery periods.
While the type of harm that you experienced will depend on the exact circumstances leading up to the collision, let’s take a look at injuries victims often report in pedestrian car crash cases:
- Broken legs, shattered ankles, pelvic fractures, and joint damage
- Head trauma and brain damage
- Back and neck injuries, like herniated discs and spinal cord damage
- Internal bleeding, punctured organs, and abdominal trauma
- Torn ligaments, muscle trauma, deep bruising, and lacerations
It’s not uncommon for pedestrians to get hurt in ways that affect multiple parts of their bodies at once. For instance, someone might have a brain injury, pelvic fractures, and internal trauma simultaneously, which makes recovery all the more intense and unpredictable.
How North Carolina Law Shapes the Compensation Available to Pedestrians
Pedestrian victims are eligible to pursue damages that reflect the full scope of their losses. Here’s what compensation typically covers in pedestrian accident cases:
- Current and future medical bills
- Rehabilitation costs
- Lost wages
- Diminished earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Long-term disability or impairment
- Emotional and psychological trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Property damage, if applicable
Since pedestrian injuries often involve long periods of recovery, the long-term impact of your injuries will likely be a major part of your case. You can lean on your Charlotte pedestrian accident lawyers for more insight into what this means for you.
With this in mind, it’s worth mentioning that North Carolina abides by the contributory negligence doctrine. This means that even the tiniest amount of fault on the part of the pedestrian can prevent them from recovering compensation, though there are a few exceptions, including:
- The driver had the last clear chance to avoid the crash.
- The driver was grossly negligent, impaired, reckless, or intentionally harmful.
- The pedestrian was a minor at the time of the collision.
Click to contact our Personal Injury Lawyers in Charlotte today.
Call CR Legal Team to Get Help From a Charlotte Pedestrian Accident Law Firm
If you were struck while trying to go about your day on foot, CR Legal Team is here to represent you. As your Charlotte pedestrian accident attorney, you can count on us for Whole-Person Legal Care™—we’ll do all that we can to offer physical, financial, and emotional support.
As your pedestrian accident law firm in Charlotte, we will always Care Like Family, Listen To Learn, and Do What’s Right. Many of our attorneys know what it’s like to get hurt in an accident like this, and we empathize with your situation.
We’ll apply our firsthand experience to offer compassionate and relatable guidance that you can count on during an otherwise uncertain time in your life. We genuinely care about each of our clients, and We Stand Up For You® throughout every stage of the legal process. Call now.
